WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday night that he will nominate Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which will carry out Trump’s plan to carry out mass deportations of millions of people in the country without proper legal status.
“Kristi has spoken out very strongly on border security,” Trump said in a statement. “He will work closely with “Border Czar” Tom Homan to secure the border and ensure that our American homeland is sheltered from our adversaries. I have known Kristi for years and have worked with her on many different projects. “She will be an important part of our mission to make America safe again.”
DHS is the agency primarily responsible for immigration enforcement and border security, and provides short-lived protection to enable immigrants to live and work in the United States. When Trump announces his nominees, Noem will be the first governor to receive a Cabinet nod.
DHS employs approximately 260,000 federal employees and discretionary budgetary authority worth almost $62 billion.
The news sparked a backlash from Democrats even before Trump’s announcement, as media reports said Noem would be elected.
“With a long history of supporting Trump’s draconian immigration policies, Governor Kristi Noem will carry out his cruel plans without hesitation,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement.
Noem said in a statement that she was “honored and humbled” to be selected.
“I look forward to working with Border Czar Tom Homan to make America SAFE again,” Noem said. “Thanks to Donald Trump, we will secure the border and restore security to American communities so that families once again have the opportunity to pursue the American dream.”
Noem, a staunch Trump ally, was one of several Republican governors who sent U.S. National Guard troops to the southern border in Texas, a rebuke to the Biden administration and its immigration policies. She too visited the southern border several times.
Noem served in Congress from 2011 to 2019, when she retired after winning the 2018 gubernatorial election. Her second term is scheduled to expire in 2026.
While in Congress, she served on the U.S. House of Representatives Committees on Armed Services, Ways and Means, and Agriculture.
Noem did not serve on the committee that oversees DHS, the Homeland Security Committee.
Noem joins the border czar
In Trump’s second administration, Noem joined several former Trump officials who were the architects and strongest defenders of his tough immigration policies. The three were among Trump’s first personnel announcements.
On Monday, Trump dubbed former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the previous Trump administration, Homan, as his “border czar.” Homan supported the controversial “zero tolerance” policy that separated nearly 5,000 immigrant families at the southern border.
Stephen Miller, who led many of Trump’s immigration policies in his first term, is expected to join the White House as deputy chief of staff for policy.
Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, said in a statement that the nomination of Miller and Homan signals that “mass deportations will be indiscriminate and merciless.”
“The nominations of Stephen Miller and Tom Homan are disturbing, but not surprising, and signal that we should take Donald Trump seriously and literally regarding his proposed largest deportation operation in American history and the ruthless, indiscriminate and costly nature of what is to come,” she said Cardenas.
Noem’s nomination to Trump’s Cabinet would have to go through Senate confirmation, and she could face questions about an anecdote from her memoir. She withdrew information about the meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un after questioning reporters whether the meeting actually took place.
Additionally, she revealed this in the same diary she shot her 14-month-old puppy, named Cricket due to behavioral problems. This discovery was met with piercing criticism on both sides of the political spectrum.
Huge responsibilities
DHS is a sprawling agency consisting of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as other national security agencies.
The Secret Service is there under intense scrutiny after grave failings in preventing Trump’s first assassination attempt last summer, where he he suffered an ear injury. The first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania resulted in: Principal Kimberly Cheatle resigned.
Ronald L. Rowe, deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service, currently serves as acting director and has been praised for the agency’s quick action in second assassination attempt against Trump at his private golf course in Florida.
Last updated at 20:43, November 12, 2024
